Celebrating a decade of powerful learning: GeoInquiries

[TomBaker]

In May of 2014, shortly after Esri announced participation in the Whitehouse’s initiative for schools, connectEd, a new type of instructional material was released by the Esri Education Team. In collaboration with Esri partners, GISetc and Maps101.com (now Mapszu) and university collaborator, The University of Minnesota's U-Spatial, Esri released over 180 GeoInquiry™ activities in ten different subject areas – all aligned to US curriculum standards.

Over time, the use of the activities grew dramatically.  Today, it is not unusual to find a teacher using GIS that at least partially attributes their early work with GIS to GeoInquiries. GeoInquiries continue to hold a special place in Esri offerings.  They are intended first and foremost to help teachers teach the required content of their subject.  In other words, GeoInquiries were intended to help teachers teach better.  Secondarily, they were intended to help teachers and students learn GIS.  This “curriculum-first solution”  in contrast to previous work that might be described as a “software-first solution” lead to the growth in use of geospatial tools across schools.

In 2024, we expect to serve over 1.6 million GeoInquiry maps and instructional materials to the K12 community. 

As of today, we offer GeoInquiries supporting three different mapping tools::

1. Classic: GeoInquiries that use the classic map viewer.  (These activities will be sunsetting as the classic map viewer is retired.)
2. New: GeoInquiries that use the “new” map viewer (the default map viewer).
3. MapMaker/Atlas: This flavor of GeoInquiries includes AP Human Geography, Earth Science, and World Geography.

Moreover, other teams have created their own state-level GeoInquiries.  See if your state has a collection.

Explore or share the collections today to begin or extend your journey with GIS in the classroom.